Evaluation

 On technical aspects

Alongside with the creative critical reflection, here are some other evaluation on our product as a stand alone opening sequence. I'd delve on these points as purely technical and pointing out flaws that we could do better, couple with audience feedback. 

        This is my honest criticism (and nitpicking) looking back our media product as a standalone media text.

        1. Brainstorming and developing core takes

To be honest, I did not get involved with my teammates in this initial stage of work, as we were busy with genre and research separately in classes. Therefore, the intention of some pre-visualization elements are ambiguous to me (it could be a personal issue of me not communicating with them at that time). 

Looking back, I did not see the strong visual references and correlation of the opening sequence to the genre, and any criticism or motive for us to narrow “suspense” down to the crime thriller. Inherently, it is not clear to me why we commit to this premise (detective - antagonist), and whether we have any personal experience or inventive take on it.

Therefore, I think our worldbuilding and storyline get lost in context, and instead we focus on capturing the aesthetic and general atmosphere of the genre. For instance, a third of our feedback form (7 out 26 written responses) explicitly mentions the plot/storyline being too unclear and lacking in context to tell what was going on. Working through the script and storyboard, that was the main question we asked ourselves, but swept under the rug as we thought it would be explained as an “enigma”. The audience should just question the enigma (the focal point driving the plot, such as the photo portrait), instead of feeling confused and disconnected to the motive of each character. Therefore, the audience cannot empathize or understand the disorienting state of the character

However, reflected back at it, this non-concrete plot is quite an excuse to develop further world building, as well as having more environmental and cultural take on the genre. For instance, the location could be more emphasized to bring a more personal and intimate take on our sequence, saying more about us as creatives and impressions. Ho Chi Minh city could be portrayed to have both large streets which bring an overwhelming feel (detective being dizzy and bump into people), as well as small alleyways for discrete, suffocating doing (detective getting shot). 

 

         2. Story building and character profile

  

This issue of lacking initializing ideas (coming from dissecting the brief, brainstorming and pitching) extends to our character profile and representation matter. The main character is treated to be a self insert of the audience (as mentioned in my critical reflection), however that was not clear to us in production nor the audience. While watching, they are tasked with understanding the unclear motive of the detective, instead of placing them in the shoes of the detective (you cannot empathize while you don’t feel similar/familiar with characters’ action - Narrative engagement theory). This character trope was there, but not apparent enough to be picked up. 

 

Moreover, the play onto the stereotype of the femme fatale was also not done well (mentioned here). Given our current audience environment, I would be doubtful if our approach to this character would be clear or a familiar concept to them as well. 

 

          3. Visuals (Pre production planning, Visual of footages and Post production)

Pre production planning of our aesthetic takes, similarly, garners a lot of discussion and arguments within our group. Nat, as the director, had a quite solid visual target (for the opening sequence to have a blue/purple tint), however was not as achievable for us in filming and post production. We have a pinterest board for the opening, however finding references on the purple color palette was equally complicated. Mostly it is drawn on sci-fi film, with a more stagnant and pointed look, instead of the “mushy”, “filtered” feel we wanted for our genre. Therefore, each of us having different creative outtakes initially slows down our production, as well as wasting our time while filming. Collective, we spent 5 days shooting 3 scenes, with all scenes getting a reshoot a week after, not mentioning our 3 days of experimental shot. 

Due to sunset (as explained in my Production diary), there was only one day that the purple hue was achieved, but yet having warm yellow undertones, making the shot pretty out of context (when Nat is running down the stairs). The various inconsistencies in environmental lighting also make our visual planning go out of hand. 

Moreover, post production of color grading is very complicated. As we agree on making the footage blue/green with higher emphasis on blue (as green is way more common and cliche), these supplementary colors are quite straining to look at in a long time. Some response feedback that we could use purple or orange hints on highlights so that our footage has more depth for the viewers. 

Personally, I think our step printing effect is very pretty and aesthetic, however some viewers feedback that it was too long and caused some dizziness to them while viewing. This could be attributed to the screenplay, as we have the intended running scene to be the longest footage as it is more “montage” like and more interesting than continuous action. However, I could understand that if the running scene is more diverse in background and location, that impact could be use, otherwise it just drags on and is quite tedious.  

Another outstanding criticism that we would be sure to take is the inclusion of more wide shots and camera angles for our opening sequence to have more depth and be more intriguing. 

 

           4. Sound

Sound is the most talked about aspect in my blog (here and here) :,) In our feedback survey, sound is similarly the most mentioned feature that we can improve on (10 out of 26 responds). Looking back at it after a week after launch, I do think some last minute decision of mine reduced the viewing experience of the audience. For instance, I decided to largely decrease the sound of the music during the climax, as I thought it would take away from the sound effect AND regarding the sound output issue, but actually keeping it high would build a more intense experience. Moreover, as the music was decrease, some transitional effect (constant gain) is out of tune and make the music quite unintegrated to the visual (the music was higher when in POV than even the climax, and thus the constant gain effect I initially placed there did not use to it intention as building up higher volume). Moreover, I was not familiar myself with sound effect terminology, such as riser, braaams and whooshes, as that could optimize my search for better sound effects online.  

 

            5. Mise en scen and continuity of shots

Mise en scene is also already covered in my blog (here), but looking at our opening sequence as a standalone product exacerbates some flaws I have with our location. As the location is repeated and nearby to one another, the prolonged step printing scene is quite unintriguing and does not quite represent that the detective is running for quite a long time. The alleyway we chose was also really pretty and photogenic, but I wish our POV scene could showcase the environment more instead of having the POV at eye level looking straight into houses. The alleyway is a small, multiple branch of streets tucked in between large apartment complexes, thus representing Ho Chi Minh city on a deeper level.

Overally, location wise, I would reconsider our opening film to have a more local take, one that is less “disposable” and “recreational” to other media productions even if wanted too.

🌱🌱🌱  In general, I do think our opening sequence is of great effort, contains compelling visuals, conventions and satisfies the brief of being a suspense movie. However, the only issue underpinning it, apart from technical issues examined throughout this evaluation, is lacking of brainstorming and deeper personal expression given to it, making the product quite disconnected to us as creators and to the audience, and of a bigger cultural zeitgeist that it plays into. 

Therefore, our final film would sit someone in the modern media landscape, but not necessarily on represent our intrinsic values and characters of filmmakers amongst the wealth of other art forms.